GT racer and one-time Red Bull protege Filipe Albuquerque was a surprise winner of the Race of Champions - which pits stars from different motorsport disciplines against each other - in Dusseldorf, as Germany hosted the event for the first time. Albuquerque narrowly defeated rally ace and three-time RoC winner Sebastien Loeb.

The pace of young Australian Daniel Ricciardo aboard the Red Bull in the recent Abu Dhabi young driver tests has given rise to speculation that a seat will be found for him in F1 next year, most likely at Toro Rosso. But will it?

With F1 reaching ever further-flung parts of the world - Korea new to this year's calendar and India on next year's - there are further reports of European venues struggling, with the latest stories suggesting that Valencia is seeking to end its European GP deal.

Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has told a German newspaper that new world champion Sebastian Vettel harbours an ambition to drive for Ferrari one day, but Mateschitz aims to make any decision to move "as difficult as possible."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa pipped new world champion Sebastian Vettel to quickest time on the first day of the two-day Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi, the first experience of the Italian rubber for the F1 teams.

Abu Dhabi's F1 rookie test came to a conclusion today with the quickest three drivers, Daniel Ricciardo, Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sam Bird all under Sebastian Vettel's 1m39.394s pole position time from last Saturday.

With the news that Pastor Maldonado will test with HRT as well as Williams in Abu Dhabi next week, it could be that Williams' recent deal to supply HRT with transmissions next year will ultimately safeguard the seats of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg at Williams next year.

Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has explained that the team never entertained the idea of having Sebastian Vettel defer to Mark Webber in the Brazilian Grand Prix as long as both its drivers were still in the championship battle.

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, a Brazilian-born Lebanese, was a visitor to Interlagos on Sunday but refused to confirm recent rumours of either a sale of the company's 25% remaining stake in Renault F1 or a sponsorship link with Group Lotus.